Maple Leafs President & GM Brian Burke said that the team is "committed to promoting women's hockey and has struck a task force" headed by VP/Hockey Operations Dave Poulin to study it, according to Donna Spencer of the CP. Burke, who attended yesterday's IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championships Gold Medal Game in Switzerland, said, "There's no sport on the planet that has improved as much as women's hockey. To use an analogy, if track and field improved at the same rate, Usain Bolt would run a seven-second 100 metres.” Spencer noted the NHL hired former WNBA President Val Ackerman “as a consultant to come up with ideas on how it can help women's hockey.” But Burke “threw cold water on the idea that the NHL might operate a women's pro league like the NBA-WNBA relationship.” Burke: "I think the WNBA has been an unqualified disaster financially. I don't think anyone at our level has any appetite for that." He added that Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment "doesn't see money to be made in the women's game," but they "have a compelling reason to take an interest." Burke: "Half our fanbase is female. We owe them that. I don't see any financial payoff in it for us, but it doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do" (CP, 4/25).
